Let's face it, the Millennial generation is composed of all adults now. As an adult population, we are graduating college, having babies and getting married. We're getting deeper into social issues as they become more relevant to our age group. Forbes magazine wrote an article last year titled "Why Millennials Believe Vaccines Cause Autism" and really started with the root of the issue at hand. Hendersen writes about how millennials are a new generation that believe in user generated content and peer input is highly valued. In a survey done by Forbes magazine, millennials are 50% more trustworthy of these types of content over traditional media. There also seems to this overwhelming mistrust in experts, especially scientists, that are a result of this mistrust in traditional media. The survey also projected that 1 out of 5 millennials, or 20%, believe that autism is linked to vaccines. Hendersen and I both agree that this number is surprisingly low and may actually be larger than projected.

So who, when, where, why, how did this anti vaccine movement come about? The mainstream event started in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist, and his colleagues published an article in, The Lancet, describing a small study of 8 children whose first symptoms within one month of the MMR vaccine were autism. For a little education, the MMR vaccine protects against measles or rubeola (a highly contagious respiratory virus that is serious to small children with symptoms similar to chicken pox), mumps (a viral infection that affects the salivary glands along with severe flu like symptoms), and rubella (an acute, contagious virus with a distinct red rash and enlarged lymph nodes) in children. This vaccine can be repeated throughout adult life but it mostly affects small children. It is typically given at the one year check up for children. Andrew Wakefield and his team discovered that after the vaccine was given that intestinal inflammation occurred that damaged the lining of the intestines and released these non permeable encephalitic peptides, an amino acid chain that mostly functions as an enzyme, into the blood stream that reached the brain and caused damage resulting in developmental issues and overall, autism. There was a trend of a worldwide increase in autism diagnosis and the public panicked and began not vaccinating their children. Wakefield also concluded in his report that autism was also linked to thimerosal, an ethyl-mercury containing preservative in few vaccines that he found to be toxic to the central nervous system. His third hypothesis was that simultaneous administration of different vaccines overwhelms and even weakens the immune system, again, causing autism. The Oxford Journal and other references made a point to debunk this research and help the public to feel at ease. In 2009, The Oxford Journal published an article called, "Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypothesis". The authors concluded in their report through numerous testing and research that Wakefield's work contained no control group and no conclusion that said whether the findings were casual or coincidental. The peptides he specified have never been found to be traveling to the brain or in the brain itself. There was also no systematic or correct collection of data, and hardly any supporting evidence or data that made his findings incorrect and hard to find non fraudulent. Researchers could conclude that gastrointestinal issues did not predate autism and the symptoms were inconsistent of a bloodstream invasion. MMR could never scientifically be linked to chronic intestinal issues. Withing the article, Horning et al described some of the genetics of autism. Autism does not coincide with the genome for the MMR virus (as we know the dead or extremely weakened MMR virus is injected as this is how vaccines are designed to help you or your children build immunity). Genes associated with autism actually have nothing to do with the gastric region of the body at all. Autism codes proteins to influence neuronal synapse function, neuronal cell adhesion and neuronal activity regulation. This explains in mass why individuals with autism have impaired cognitive and social skills alongside a compromised immune system. Wakefield has some explaining to do.

-England 1998: the autism rate was 1 in 2000 children. About 25 children per month were diagnosed.

-UK 1988-1999: tested gastrointestinal correlation with children with autism who were vaccinated and autistic children that were not vaccinated. While there was an increase in autism, the MMR vaccination rate was stable. Conclusion was that there was no correlation between the two.

-California, USA 1980-1994: no correlation found between and increase in autism rates and MMR vaccination rates

-Canada: while there was an increase in autism rates, there was a decrease in MMR vaccination rates and even when the exposure and outcome rates varied, including a strict autism diagnosis and guidelines, there was no correlation.

Since millennials are so drawn to user created content, I think it is worth note to mention some infamous Youtube videos that have contributed to the anti-vaccine movement. "CDC Whistle Blower admits MMR vaccine causes autism" is a user created video by a man who claims to have spoken to an exiled CDC researcher who found the true correlation between autism and the MMR vaccine. In the video, the mystery man claims that they found the younger age of exposure increases the risk of autism. He also says this younger age is a 340% increased risk, with black children, specifically boys, being at double the risk than white children to get autism from these vaccines. The study was conducted on the Metro Atlanta population and published November 9, 2001. The results were supposedly released to the Official Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics but I have yet to find this article in its truth. Brian S. Hooker claims to have been emailed top secret information and has published the same results leaked in an article published by Translation Neurodegeneration in March 2014. The secret scientist claimed that the higher ups at the CDC wanted to do things a certain way and that is why the article his team published did not link autism to the MMR vaccine, it debunked the myth. The team even went on to win awards for this article. The Youtube user strongtower0914 uploaded the video through Autism Media Channel but has no credible list of sources I can rely on to believe his story.He concludes his story by comparing the CDC to Pol-Pot and Hitler about hiding information about genetics and keeping alive the people they so desired for a population. His final comment is "how many Presidents Obama?" which I can only translate as a scapegoat onto Obama for autism.

Another popular video is called "Madison: Before and After Vaccine Induced Autism". User madinmikala uploaded the video as the child's mother and claims through the picture sildeshow that her daughter contracted autism after spiking a 104.5 fever a day after her child's MMR vaccine at a 13 month checkup. It may be of note that Madison had contracted chicken pox from a friend earlier that year. Her mother describes her daughter as a life loving, smiling and laughing infant and then she became a blank shell of herself after her fever. A diagnosis of roseola, or sixth disease, caused by two strains of the herpes virus, was given by a doctor. It's associated with the high fever and rash her daugher had after the vaccine administration and it clears up with medication and rest. Madison's mother says that is not what happened. She says Madison began to be nonverbal and had to relearn walking over a span of 7 months. She became fixed on playing with objects and was hard to pull away. Madison liked to play by herself and would lick things around the house. She would open and close doors and drawers for long periods of time. She didn't smile as much as she used to and was a lot to handle. In the video, Madison's mother never officially said if Madison was professionally diagnosed on the spectrum. Is this autism or the terrible two's?

Other articles, like a 2012 Entropy article titled "Empirical Data Confirm Autism Symptoms Related to Aluminum and Acetaminophen Exposure" have been floating around. Many of these articles are floating on hypothesis and propositions, not using evidence based medicine and research, but just trying to link thing A to thing B with other authors works. This article specifically says in the conclusion, "...have not shown aluminum directly causes autism", therefore debunking almost everything they just said (Seneff).

So, again, do vaccines cause autism? The CDC has released several articles over vaccine safety and public health stating that there is no correlation between the two. Vaccines are completely safe. There are rare exceptions, 1% or less, that something may happen to your child that is not a typical side effect but this does not mean autism at all. In a 2004, the CDC reported that they rejected the "causal relationship" between thimerosal and autism (CDC).Between 1999 and 2001, the CDC did require the removal or have trace amounts of thimerosal in vaccines to reduce mercury exposure before some of these studies were done. This was simply a precaution and had nothing to do with autism. There have been 9 different studies over the most common vaccines and ingredients (like mercury, aluminum and formaldehyde) in children that show that the antigens in these vaccines and trace amounts of ingredients remain unchanged in levels for a child with autism and child without that has been vaccinated.

Autism Speaks, a large non profit organization for the education and support of individuals or families of individuals with autism, frequently addresses issues surrounding the causes of autism and fears families may have for their loved ones. Recent 2015 statistics of their research team have found that through 10 studies and 1.2 million children that MMR actually has a decreased odds risk (.84) of 16% in getting autism from this specific vaccine. The studies also went through other common childhood vaccines and found similar results. These conclusions are drawn from a meta-analysis where many studies were reviewed again and again to confirm that there was no correlation between vaccines and autism. The team reported a 95% confidence interval in their work.

A final important note that I feel many people may not consider is how the individuals affected by autism actually feel. Waghorn of thescientificparent.org wrote an article called , "Vaccines Don't Cause Autism, But That's Not The Point". In her article, she describes how she was discussing autism with a panel of families and their teenagers affected by autism. At one point she asks a panel member if he blames vaccines for his autism. The teenager rejected the question and said how blaming the vaccines makes him feel like a broken or damaged child when he considers vaccines induced autism and that it feels horrible to think that his parents could have preferred he was dead because he wasn't the healthy child they anticipated. Now, of course, this is only a thought as his parents expressed how much they loved their son, but here's the point: Is this really what parents fear about autism? Do parents fear having a broken and damaged child after thinking the child was born healthy? This may or may not be common knowledge, but vaccine induced autism is what it is because many of these vaccines are given around the age of one or two, which happens to also be the age that many children show signs of autism and get diagnosed. Developmental milestones of talking, learning and social skills development happen at this stage of life and this is how autism is detected early on. There are few ways to diagnose autism in infants because the few signs include lack of eye tracking and focus or lack or reaction to toys or people. These can be easily missed or infrequent.

While the cause of autism is still very unknown, researchers are leaning towards faulty genes or mutations, chemical imbalances, lack of oxygen at birth, maternal viruses affecting in-utero, tuberous sclerosis, Fragile X syndrome, encephalitis, and PKU (causing amino acid build up at birth). Many if not all of these things are present at birth or even before. If your child has autism, the chance that they are born with it is almost 100%. Autism is not curable because it causes brain damage and in some cases it is very significant. Even modern medicine is not capable of curing many brain injuries.

As medical personnel and someone that is studying medicine for a career as a physician, it is not my place to tell you whether or not to vaccinate your children or yourself but consider these few things:

-Many of the things your child is vaccinated for affect them rapidly and harshly as children.

-While many of the diseases your child is vaccinated for are eradicated in first world countries, many people immigrate from countries where vaccines are not readily available and your child may contract these things (airborne, droplet or direct contact).

-You can protect your child in the home, but outside you have little control.

-The lack of vaccines can affect their future health because, while they may be able to build an immunity with your breast milk or otherwise exposure, their immune system is still weaker than most and may harm in the future or be a door stop when getting into schools or jobs.

-While other children are vaccinated against these illnesses, they may still contract the virus and experience symptoms but at a significantly reduced rate. That child can pass the virus on to a non vaccinated child in school or a play date and cause more harm that if that child was vaccinated. This makes your child a public health hazard.

-Your child does not have immunity to polio, MMR, tetanus, chicken pox, whooping cough, diphtheria, hepatitis, pneumococcal, or H. influenzae. All can easily kill or harm your child in ways you do not want your child to experience ever.

-It is not a violation of your rights as parents or bodily autonomy of your child to let someone vaccinate or not vaccinate them.

-Medical professionals are not part of the government and are serving the population.

This is your decision, but do not make it lightly.

Works Cited:

Gerber, Jeffrey S. "Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses." Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses. Oxford Journals, 2009. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Henderson, J. Maureen. "Why Millennials Believe Vaccines Cause Autism." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Jyoungrn. "Madison's Autism Recovery Video." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Oct. 2008. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Madinmikala. "Madison: Before & After Vaccine Induced Autism." YouTube. YouTube, 19 Feb. 2009. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

"New Meta-analysis Confirms: No Association between Vaccines and Autism." Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks Inc., 19 May 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Seneff, Stephanie, Robert M. Davidson, and Jingjing Liu. "Empirical Data Confirm Autism Symptoms Related to Aluminum and Acetaminophen Exposure." MDPI. Entropy, 2009. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Strongtower0914. "CDC Whistle Blower Admits MMR Vaccine Causes Autism." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

"Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Waghorn, Leslie. "Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism, But That’s Not the Point." The Scientific Parent. Thescientificparent.org, 03 May 2016. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.